


The Art of Pretending

by oikawatoorus



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, College AU, F/F, M/M, Multi, another coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 21:02:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1702439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oikawatoorus/pseuds/oikawatoorus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>another coffee shop/college au<br/>-<br/>"You should've gone to acting school, Steve."<br/>"Yeah, why's that?"<br/>"Because you're really good at pretending there's nothing here, even though we all know it's there."<br/>"No."<br/>"Yes."<br/>"...Maybe"</p><p>-<br/>Or, when Steve meets Bucky in little cafe in college town, the only one's who don't see the blossoming romance are Steve and Bucky themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Pretending

Bucky grew up playing poker.

It was one of the few things he was good at. He learned early on that you need good cards if you’re going to have a shot in this world. If you don’t get a nice hand, you’re fucked.

Poker taught Bucky that no one screws you over more than life does.

And boy, did life screw him over.

His dad left when he was 5; he barely knew him, but it doesn’t take much to leave a scar. It hurt his mom more than anything, and she never really recovered. Even when she was over the initial hurt and betrayal, she was never really over it. And that meant Bucky could never really be over it, either.

Bucky’s Ma was the only person Bucky ever loved. She was the only constant in his life, the only one who could always smile at him, even when her eyes were damp with tears. She was really all he needed.

Poker also taught Bucky that you can lose your loot at any point in the game.

When Bucky was 17, his mother was diagnosed with leukemia.

When Bucky was 17, his future went down the drain.

Instead of college, he emptied the bank account and poured all of it into his mother’s medical bills. Despite her protests, he didn’t go to college.

Even then, it wasn’t enough money.

Bucky ended up working over 12 jobs over the past 5 years, every cent he could spare going towards the medical bills. But as the numbers rose higher, his hope got weaker.

So yeah, James Barnes had been dealt a shitty hand of cards. But the one thing his mom always said is that “We’re only hopeless when we allow ourselves to be.”

And with his shitty luck, he met the person who could still his heart with just a moment of eye contact. He met the man who saved his soul, his heart, and his mind. He met the man who he couldn’t survive without.

He met Steve Rogers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Honey, as much as I appreciate your bi-daily visits, you’re going to be late for work, you know. You best be off.” Her slender hand reached up to cup Bucky’s cheek, and he melted right into it. He would feel the fragile bones through her thin skin, and it broke his heart. His mom was always the strongest person he knew, and seeing her like this was hard.

 

But she had fought for 5 years now, and she was still the strongest woman he knew.

 

“I won’t be late, Ma. I still have 45 minutes before we open.” His mother rolled her eyes before patting him twice on the cheek. Bucky opened his mouth to say more when the door opened.

 

“Mr. Barnes?” The doctor, Sitwell, Bucky remembered, was standing in the doorway, motioning for Bucky to follow him.

 

Bucky turned back to his mother and smiled. “I’ll see ya later.” He brushed her hair off of her forehead and kissed it gently, before standing up and following Sitwell out of the room.

 

“Mr. Barnes-”

 

“Bucky, please.”

“Bucky… she doesn’t have much time left, I’m afraid.” Bucky’s shoulders slumped forward. He should’ve seen that coming, if he was to be honest to himself. “And the bills are only getting higher, and your lawyer called; the insurance company is planning to drop you if you don’t start paying the premiums again.”

 

Bucky worried at his lip. _Shit_.

 

Sitwell slapped a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “Son, I think it’s time we… we begin to look at our options-”

Bucky snapped his head up and looked the doctor in the eyes. “If you think I’m going to let ya’ll pull the plug on my Ma, you’re sorely mistaken. I’m going to keep on doing what I’ve been doing until she’s well again, you understand?” Bucky wasn’t the type to give up, especially when his family was involved.

Sitwell pressed his lips together and sighed. “Yes, Mr. Barnes, I do. I’ll see you around.” The doctor walked away, his lab coat swaying behind he, before he rounded a corner and was gone.

Bucky cursed under his breath. _Dammit,_ he thought. He turned back towards the door to his mom’s hospital room, his hand on the handle. But he saw that she was already sleeping again, the steady beep of the monitor reverberating in his head, and he left the hospital.

He climbed in his car and just sat there for a few minutes, just him and his thoughts.

He hated thinking. Bucky was a worst case-scenario type of person, and when he thought about anything, he could never picture a happy ending. And with that mind set, he never got any happy endings.

But all he wanted was just one.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes before starting up his crappy old ‘63 Cadillac Fleetwood that he had gotten cheap at some used car festival. Even though it wasn’t in the best shape, Bucky loved this car to the moon and back.

He drove to the coffee shop he worked at in his own silence, his thoughts taking a turn for the worst again. He white-knuckled the steering wheel and gritted his teeth. He couldn’t lose his Ma; he would do anything he could to keep that from happening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Tony, I swear to God, if you open your mouth one more time, I’m going to lose it.”

Steve gripped the highlighter tighter as he continued scanning the textbook, highlighting facts about the surrealism movement to put in his paper. And it sure would be a whole lot easier if Steve’s roommate would shut the hell up.

“I mean, really, you would think the engineering professor would know-” Steve tried not listen as Tony trailed on. Which Tony Stark always did.

Stark was probably the most self-centered person Steve had ever met. No, take that back; there was no probably about it. Tony talked about himself endlessly, and it was always about things way over Steve’s head.

Steve = art student

Tony = engineering student

It probably wasn’t the best combo in history when it comes to conversations.

But Steve put up with it. Sometimes he found it endearing. Tony could be funny, on occasion. And throughout the past 3 years and 2 months at this university, he was probably one of Steve’s best friends.

But today, Steve didn’t want to deal with this.

“So I said, look, Mr. Strongbow, I-” **_Bam_**. Tony was flat on his back before he knew what hit him. Shocked, Tony picked the pillow up off of his face. “Really, Rogers? I’m trying to tell a story and you hit me a fucking pillow? Rude. Anyways-”

Steve couldn’t do it. He stood up, stuffed his laptop into his bag, along with his notebook, textbook, and some pens and highlighters. “I’m going somewhere where the urge to kill the person next to me is a little bit less, ok? I’ll see you.”

Before Tony could open his mouth to reply, Steve was out of the door.

He stepped out into the chilly October air, shoulders stiffening automatically in the cold. He slung his bag farther onto his shoulder, and started walking. Where to? Who knows.

He walked for about 15 minutes, until he saw the “Free Wifi!” sign outside of a small coffee shop called “Marvelous Grounds: Coffee and Cafe”. He decided to give it a try, because he could definitely use a hot chocolate or two.

The bell jingled when he walked in; the place was bigger than he expected it to be. There were some couches in the corner for your average study session, and 5 or 6 tables in the middle of the room. There were some arm chairs on the opposite wall, and some bar stools by the counter. A few other students sat scattered around the room, either studying or quietly talking to someone.

Then he saw the barista, and he had to be the most attractive man Steve had seen since that one time he ran into Ryan Gosling in Times Square. (He didn’t even ask for an autograph, he just kind of awkwardly stared at him).

Tall and well built, but not ripped. Dark hair from what he could see under the uniform hat. And grey/blue eyes, a few shades darker than Steve’s.

Steve’s heart caught in his throat, because _damn_. It took him a second to get his feet moving again. He set his bag on an empty table in the middle of the room, and made his way over to the counter.

The barista turned to Steve, his face lifting in a lopsided grin and- ok, that was probably the cutest smile Steve had ever seen and he’s probably staring and making things awkward oh shit. “Hello, sir. How can I help you today?”

Steve flashed him a grin in return. _By giving me your number, maybe?_

“Just a hot chocolate is fine for now, thanks.” The barista- Bucky, the name tag said- flashed him another smile before turning and starting on Steve’s hot chocolate. He watches the man’s hands while he works; “Steve is obsessed with hands, it’s so fucking weird!” Is what Tony would probably say. It’s true to some degree, but that’s only because Steve is an artist. And being an artist comes with the reward of being able to stare and blame it on your “artistic eye”.

Steve snapped from his reverie when he heard Bucky’s voice again. “One hot chocolate. Careful, it’s… hot? Obviously, it’s hot chocolate, otherwise it would just be chocolate and we don’t serve straight up chocolate… unfortunately..” Steve couldn’t help the grin that slipped onto his face, and he smiled even harder when Bucky began to smile, too.

Bucky rang Steve up, and before Steve could even turn to walk back to his table, he heard another “Steve?”

He spun on his heel to see a short red head coming from the storage closet. She was frowning at him, but that wasn’t unusual when it came to Natasha Romanoff. “Nat?”

She stopped short when she stopped next to Bucky. “Duh. What are you doing here?”

Steve held up his hot chocolate. “Getting a drink and studying. Duh.”

Natasha just blew air out of her nose in a half-laugh. “Avoiding Stark?” Steve nodded quietly, and Nat just shook her head knowingly. “Well, enjoy your drink. I need to go meet up with Clint for lunch.” She turned to Bucky. “Got it?”

He nodded at her, before the bell over the door rang again and he put on that smile again to help the customer.

 **  
**Steve found it was just as hard to study here as it was at home. But this time, it wasn’t because of noise, but because every time he looked at his book or his screen, his eyes would manage to look up every once and awhile to look at that barista again.

**Author's Note:**

> Wowie, I'm writing a goddamn coffee shop au. This is the highest point my life will ever reach, probably.
> 
> I'm going to continue this story for 10-12 chapters of plot, with some ~side romance~ thrown onto the mix. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> And thank you to my bestie for the restie Dev for beta reading this! Her twitter is @corsolas and her tumblr is frickofflevi <3
> 
> tumblr: wintersoldjers  
> twitter: ironthrones_
> 
> this work was inspired by: "Like a Drum" - ownly-lownly  
> "The Little Titan Cafè" - yaoititan  
> "Life Less Ordinary" - dizzy, savvymavvy
> 
> Thanks for reading! Now that it's (almost) summer, I'll probably update every Friday. Happy evening!


End file.
